The present invention relates to a preformed front piece for making shoes and to shoes made by using front pieces of this type.
Shoes having toe caps have been used for a long time, especially with protective boots. Such shoes protect against foot injury because of the presence of a steel front cap introduced between the upper and the lining or an additional cap made of tough cowhide attached onto the upper. Although these caps surrounding the foot or shoe from above are suitable for protecting the foot against pressure from above, they nevertheless have the disadvantage that the cap itself is inflexible, so that the shoe can only bend at the cap's end, and consequently the upper exerts increased pressure on the foot at this point. Furthermore, this cap must also be added onto the shoe with the upper having to be matched exactly to the shape of the cap, and particularly where the fashioning of the tip is concerned, this requires an additional work step involving the expensive use of additional machines and material.